We all learn in a different ways, depending on our psychological qualities. While there are very many theories of learning styles today, the most popular of them divides people into visual, kinesthetic and audial learners, basing on the most active channel of perception. However, there are also other dimensions that should be used in learning. Understanding my learning style can help me to improve my learning plan to remember the information better.
Richard Felder and Linda Silverman developed the Index of Learning Styles that includes four dimensions. In the first dimension, learners are divided into sensory and intuitive. Sensory learners prefer to solve problems with data, statistics and experiments, while intuitive learners like innovation and new concepts. They are very good with using symbols. In the second dimension, there are visual and verbal learners. Visuals learn more quickly when they can see pictures, graphs and diagrams, while verbal learners need to hear or say the information to remember it. Most people of school and college age are visual learners. Next, the researchers identify inductive and deductive learners. The first of them move in their learning from particular information to general information, such as theories and concepts.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Types Of Learning Styles".
This style is natural for most learners. Deductive learning involes moving from the general to the particular: this is natural for teachers, but not for students. The next dimension is active and reflective learners. Active learners like practical experience like building models and solving problems. In contrast, reflective learners need the see the big picture first and they observe the concepts before manipulate them. The last dimension is sequential and global learners. The first prefer learn by stages and use linear resoning when they solve problems, while the second often jump from one material to another and use their intution when they do the tasks.
Knowing ones learning style is very important as it can help a person to choose the most effective learning materials and activities. Also, it shows the weaknesses a person has in learning and the things that he has to avoid. According to Felder and Silverman’s system, I can describe myself as sensory, visual, inductive, active and global learner. I learn better when I can see some pictures or graphs, and when I can have some practical experience. I am an inductive learner, as I move from the details to the larger concepts and theories. Also, I do not perceive information by stages and use my intuition frequently, which is common for global learners.
There are multiple ways in which I am trying to change my learning plan to be more suitable for my learning style. As a sensory and active learner, I try to apply my knowledge in practical experiments every time I have this opportunity. When I manipulate and experiment with different objects, I often start to understand the theories that were not clear for me from the very start. This means that I need to rely more in concrete facts and actions than in words. As I am a visual learner, I find it help to draw pictures or schemes that illustrate the concepts the teacher is talking about. It helps me greatly to remember the information because I have the picture in my mind. At the same time, I may not remember abstract concepts even after we discuss them in class a long time.
Of course, this does not mean that I should not take part in discussions, but that I need to pay more attention to ilustrations and graphs. Also, taking notes is not very helpful for me. Finally, as a global learner, the traditional system of progression from simple to more complex material does not work with me very well. I try to define very clear motivation for me to learn and understand a topic before I remember particular information. I enjoy creative exercises and my ability to perceive material is better when I think on some alternative solutions or applications for the concepts we learn about.
Learning styles can be very effective to improve ones memory and ability to understand complex material. Of course, a teacher cannot reach the learning style of every students, and, for this reason, it is very important that students use the materials and techniques that work best for them.
